Rhetorical Analysis Of A Modest Proposal

Swift begins his essay by describing walking down a street in Ireland. He describes how you would see, “beggars of the female sex, followed by three, four, or six children, all in rags, and importuning every passenger for an alms” (Swift, Para. 1). This gives the reader a mental

Swift’s proposal attempted to do so with the same logic and motivation that he considered to be the cause of the melancholy that could be observed traveling through Ireland. He aims his observations and remarks as sympathetic for the people, but more importantly empathetic because, as a prosperous traveler, one does not want to see such things while

When he presents his proposal in a ludicrous manner, he states that from a known friend in London, that a young child whether “stewed, roasted, baked or boiled” is the most delicious. In “The Modest Proposal” he also uses ethos in order to persuade his reader that his sources are credible. A child as an infant is said to cost more than a “boy or girl before twelve years old” because by being “assured by our merchants”, Swift proposes that being no “saleable commodity…they will not yield about three pounds.” He describes one of his acquaintances as a “true lover of his country” whose qualities he supports, was happily pleased with Swift’s proposal. Swift also makes the reader feel as if he is a man who will do anything to help and save his country.

From the beginning, irony is immediately displayed through the title of the text, A Modest Proposal. Modest means to be moderate and the proposal stated is anything but. The irony of this title serves to display to the audience how “moderate” this plan is in comparison to what the government was presently doing which was basically nothing in Swift’s eyes. Throughout the introduction, the speaker introduces the problem -- overpopulation and poverty -- and presents a solution. He mentions children in passing, which later on becomes a large part of his “proposal” to help Ireland. Swift cites that a significant part of the problem in Ireland is the struggle to provide for the evergrowing population and in order to solve this, children -- specifically newborns to a year old -- should be sold to the upper classes as food. He describes that “a young healthy child well nursed, is, at a year old, a most delicious nourishing and wholesome food..” (Swift, lines 70-71). This solution would lessen the pressure for the state to provide for them in addition to other benefits that Swift later expresses. This hyperbolic suggestion serves to express Swift’s viewpoint on the actions of the upper class to solve the issues that Ireland was enduring. He was implying that their

Johnathan Swift wrote Modest Proposal with the idea to better humanity.. When you first read it you miss what the true message is. You think “Man this guy is a monster!” or “He’s sick!”, but once you reach the end the true meaning of the proposal hits you. When Jonathan Swift wrote a Modest Proposal he tried to get his audience to see the problem by taking it and providing an unethical and inhumane solution then using rhetorical devices to bring out people’s emotions.

Although the use of incongruity is used to seize attention through a sarcastic view, another way Swift uses satire to grab England’s attention is through reversal. Reversal is used by Swift to switch the roles of babies to pigs, to emphasize the idea that these babies taste like pig. It is expressed in the text where the author points out, “I rather recommend buying the children alive and dressing them hot from the knife as we do roasting pigs” (Swift 99). This piece of text is evident of how Swift makes the point of having children served similar to pigs makes it sound serious, yet sarcastic making his point more clear to the reader with hidden meaning. The way Swift places reversal in the text makes it clear to England of how insane he may seem, but for a cause. This effective way of satire is undeniable of how Swift achieves his idea to bring poverty to an end to Ireland.

When one thinks of the phrase “A Modest Proposal,” does one come to think of fattening babies so they can sell as meat. In Jonathan Swift’s essay “A Modest Proposal,” Swift uses satirical writing to communicate with the reader to expose the critical situation of the poor people of Ireland. Whom besides going through a tough period of famine have to endure the overwhelming taxation rates of the English empire. The author’s proposal intends to convince the public of the incompetence of Ireland’s politicians, the lack empathy of the wealthy, the English oppression, and the inability of the Irish to mobilize themselves against this situation. Johnathan proposed an outrageous solution that the Irish folks eat their children at the age of one or sell them in the market as meet. Finally, he manifests to be open to other suggestions to help overcome the country’s crisis. The proposal was made strategically using several different parts: the text, author, audience, purpose, and setting to persuade the tax to go lower.

Indeed the proposal to eat the poor is a shocking statement, but what adds to the shock value is the delivery. For example, take the last statement regarding a fricassee. This statement is not necessary for the point, but it certainly adds to the appalling nature of the quote. The sarcastic nature puts Swift so far above the poor subjects that it evokes an extremely humorous response. Swift digresses and uses sarcasm numerous times in the essay, to emphasize truisms in a manner that tries to be less than direct, but has the ultimate effect of clarity. For example Swift proposes that some one of the uses for the children would be to

“We can incur no damage in disobliging England.” “First as things now stand how will they be able to find food and raiment for a hundred thousand useless mouths and backs.” By telling the people that his plan can solve Ireland's problems without hurting England and also calling Irishmen useless. Swift says these things to appeal to the citizens emotions of hatred. Swift also uses Ethos in this essay. “As to my own part, having turned my thoughts for many years, upon this important subject.” By telling the people that he has been observing what was going on in Ireland for many years it gives him credibility that he knows what he is talking about. “As I have been informed by a principal gentleman in the county of Cavan.” “I am assured by our merchant,that a boy or a girl before twelve years old is is no saleable.” In order to give himself and what he is proposing more credibility, the speaker enlist the help of other people who have either witness or are involved with what he is proposing and all of them say that the proposal has benefits.

We must keep in mind that Swift is serious throughout the entire proposal but his tone varies and gives the reader a sense of how absurd his proposal is. He considered the fact that the proposal was illogical to most people and wanted to make it stand out profoundly by changing the tone. For instance, Swift conveys that, “Infants' flesh will be in season throughout the year” (Swift 3). He suggests that children will be a product that Ireland will not have an insufficient amount of. His proposal will provide the rich an infinite amount of children to be bought throughout the year and years to come. Swift’s use of foreshadowing gives the reader a sense of how serious the author takes this proposal. He not only gives a sense of how confident he is in his plan, but also gives off the fact that irony is being played a part of this quote. He claims his proposal is the only opportunity Ireland has to evade its problem and also gives an inhuman method in order to reach a solution. Not only does Swift use irony as one of the tones throughout the essay, but also uses a cynical way of introducing his scheme to his audience which are composed of the English and the rich Ireland population. For example, Swift states, “I could name a country, which would be glad to eat up our whole nation without it” (Swift 7). Swift expresses that he could name a country,

In “ A Modest Proposal”, Jonathan Swift mainly targets two audiences: one being the English who were purchasing all the land in Ireland and the Irish themselves. After he wrote his proposal, the English purchased about 90 percent of the land, causing rent to increase thus, a difficulty for farmers to pay for rent, and a struggle to provide for their families. Since Irish families were larger in size, it was of great difficulty to care for every individual, hence the number of beggars rose dramatically. In addition, the English parliament ratified laws that restricted rights of the Irish living in their native land. More importantly, Swift attacks the English for their prejudice and political injustices, as well as displeasement with

Swift demands the audience to recognize the narrator's purpose "having no other motive than the public good of my country, by advancing our trade, providing for infant's, relieving the poor, and giving some pleasure to the rich." (Swift 489) The speaker optimistically believes that his idea is for the best. If Swift did not believe that his idea would not have a positive outcome he would not have suggested. Regardless of Swift's inhumane suggestion, which is negative, he only tries to reveal the positive of the situation. This feeling of insecurity is his way of disparaging the Irish and English government.

Beginning with an examination of the subtitle, the stance of the narrator and his views of the poor are evident immediately. “…For Preventing the Children of Poor People in Ireland, from being a Burden to their Parents or Country; and for making them beneficial to the Public." (Swift Para.1). This example is a distinct instance of irony; in which Swift uses such long, elaborate sentence to summarize his main proposition. By referring to

Swift was said to “declare at one stage in his life: ‘I am not of this vile country (Ireland), I am an Englishman’” (Hertford website). In his satire “A Modest Proposal,” he illustrates his dislike not only for the Irish, but for the English, organized religions, rich, greedy landlords, and people of power. It is obvious that Swift dislikes these people, but the reader must explore from where his loathing for the groups of people stems. I believe Swift not only wanted to attack these various types of people to defend the defenseless poor beggars, but he also had personal motives for his writings that stemmed from unconscious feelings, located in what Sigmund Freud would call the id, that Swift

Jonathan Swift's "A Modest Proposal" can be said to have a satirical surprise ending, even though the reader is well prepared for it based on the tone and style of Swift's writing and any prior knowledge of the author's intentions. Swift's final solution to the problem of overpopulation is for the poor to sell their children as food for the rich. He introduces this proposition quite early into the document "A Modest Proposal," which is why the ending is not so much as a surprise as it is an intriguing rhetorical argument. The reason why the ending might seem surprising is that it seems as if Swift may indeed be presenting a realistic argument of what can be done about overpopulation, in spite of all evidence to the contrary. A reader not used to inferring messages based on tone or style might be forgiven to misread the beginning of Swift's document. For example, a person who has never heard a sarcastic tone could very well believe that Swift was being serious; in which case the reader would continue to view Swift's proposal as reasonable and either consider him a monster or a genius. Generally, Swift uses the surprise ending to alert the readers to the absurdity of the original problem that reveals social injustices and inequities. One of the biggest surprises in Swift's document is when he states, "I can think of no one objection, that will possibly be raised against this proposal, unless it should be urged, that the number of people will be thereby much lessened in the